Boys volleyball: Libertyville rebounds from first set loss to top Stevenson
After losing a marathon first set 34-32 to host Stevenson, the Libertyville boys volleyball team had to regroup in its North Suburban Conference season opener Wednesday night.
And the undefeated Wildcats (4-0, 1-0) did just that as they rolled to a 25-15 win in the second set before pulling away for a 25-16 victory in the third set to win the match.
The Patriots (3-5, 0-1) led 9-6 in the third set on a service point by Evan Headley. But the tide started to turn after that as 5 service points by Jordan Coughlin (4 kills, 3 blocks) gave Libertyville an 18-12 lead.
Stevenson was unable to stop that momentum as a kill by Lukas Slesers (8 kills) put the finishing touches on the victory. Six-foot-9 junior Nate Knight (game-high 12 kills, 3 blocks) came alive in the second and third sets after being more of a decoy early in the match.
"It was really about just eliminating errors (in second and third sets) and the first set was super close because we gave them a lot of their points," said Knight. "In the first set they started to double and triple me and once they settled down and stopped doing that they gave me the ball again. And after I got a couple of kills they used me as a decoy again."
The first set was a dogfight from start to finish as Stevenson's Chanjun Hwang (3 kills) left the match with an ankle injury leading 25-24 and he never returned.
Both teams had numerous set points, but it was a block by Stevenson's Shresth Mohapatra (4 kills, 2 blocks) that sealed the 34-32 victory. Liberyville's Tyler Wilson had 10 kills while Dulguun Ankhbayer and Matthew Oklado had 5 kills each for the Pats.
Libertyville's Aarav Bamrolia had 34 assists, 7 digs and 4 kills, and teammate Justin Howell had 10 digs and 4 kills. Jackson Kern added 13 digs while teammate Braden Moss had 8 digs and 3 aces for the Wildcats.
"Stevenson was playing really well in the first set, and we cleaned up our play and took care of business," said Libertyville coach Jenny Smith. "They know Nate (Knight) is coming, they had a triple block upon him. And the fact that he got so many kills, he did a fantastic job making himself available and hitting around a triple block which is tough to do."
Stevenson's Atticus Gurel had 9 digs while teammate Marcel Ryszkowski had 4 blocks. Key Stevenson player Anderson Helfand missed the match due to injury.
"We just had trouble finishing set two and then similar stuff started to happen in set three," said Stevenson coach Eric Goolish. "I was really happy how we were defending him (Knight) for most of the match. When a rally happens it gets harder to keep track of him so he was definitely more effective once the rallies got going."